Advocate’s Accountancy Rules

Advocates Accountancy Rules (AAR) – The Basic Principles

AAR are set out by the Isle of Man Law Society and the aim is to safeguard client money.

An annual accountant’s report (on compliance with the AAR) must be submitted to the Isle of Man Law Society.

It is your duty to remedy breaches, promptly on discovery.

The Basic principle’s are:

Money belonging to clients should be kept separate from the advocate’s/practice’s own money.

Client money should be safely kept in a bank/building society account identifiable as a client account (except where the rules specifically provide otherwise)

Use each client’s money for that client’s matters only.

Use controlled trust money for the purpose of that trust only

The advocate/practice must establish and maintain proper accounting systems and internal controls over those systems, to ensure compliance with the rules

Keep proper accounting records for each client/controlled trust

The advocate/practice must reconcile regularly how much client’s money it holds

Deliver annual accountant’s report

We have considerable experience in dealing with completion of the Accountants Report as part of compliance with the Advocates Accounts Rules (even providing training on behalf of the IOM Law Society) and audit of advocate firms, so please get in touch to see how we can help.